The sex trade

The sex industry in the islands relies heavily on its Singaporean clients. Over a million Singaporeans visited the Riau Islands in 2004, many of them looking for sex. According to an NGO survey, almost half of all sex workers’ clients are from Singapore. Newspapers report that there are around 20,000 sex workers in Batam alone, which is probably a gross exaggeration. But there are several thousand. In 2004 one NGO in Batam had over 3500 sex workers on its books. An NGO in Tanjung Balai Karimun dealt with almost 1000 women in the same year.

Indonesia’s national criminal code does not prohibit sex work, although it is illegal to participate in the trade of women and girls or underage males, or to earn a profit from prostitution. In the absence of national criminal laws, provincial and sub-district governments have introduced a range of regulations to monitor and restrict the sale of sexual services.

Most local authorities tolerate semi-legal brothel complexes (lokalisasi) modelled on centres established by the Dutch colonial government. But the local authorities refuse to formalise the industry, preferring instead to profit from its illegal status. Every month prostitution bosses have to pay off local government officials, the police, the navy, and the army with money and women if they want to stay in business. According to some reports, the navy is also directly involved in running a number of the brothels.

Sex work also occurs on the streets and in unofficial brothels, bars and karaoke lounges. Western expatriates prefer the bar scene, while Singaporeans and Malaysians prefer the karaoke lounges. A party drug and dance scene that caters to a younger lower middle class group of Singaporeans has emerged alongside these venues. The bars and karaoke lounges are replete with full-time sex workers as well as women who have sex with the men they meet in discos. These women may sometimes receive payment in the form of cash, although often the exchange is less tangible and involves drugs, meals, and other gifts.